A vehicle has air bags to protect a driver and passenger in the vehicle during collisions. Techniques for determining whether an occupant on a seat mounted in a vehicle is an adult or child and appropriately controlling air bags in actuating the air bags are developed.
There is a known occupant detection apparatus for determining an occupant by determining occupant loading using a load sensor disposed on one side of a seat and comparing the occupant loading with a preset threshold to determine whether the occupant on the seat mounted in a vehicle is an adult or child (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-1152).
That occupant detection apparatus prevents incorrect determination caused by shifting of the weight of the occupant in turning by determining the occupant only when an absolute value of acceleration of the vehicle is equal to or lower than a predetermined value.
However, because the absolute value is used in determining the acceleration of the vehicle, if the vehicle runs in a wide variety of manners, it is difficult to frequently conduct the occupant determination (opportunity is limited).
It is desired that an occupant determination apparatus be able to conduct occupant determination in many cases (increasing opportunities) while ensuring accuracy.